(By Mike Shaw) Residents of Calahonda have been asking since the 12th where their beloved, bronze statue of a local fisherman casting his net, the centrepiece of the recently reconstructed seafront in this popular seaside resort, has gone.

The police had no clues until approached by a retired fisherman a few days later who said he was woken up at 04.00h on the morning the statue went missing to witness through his bedroom window the local town drunk having a heated, one-way argument with it, and then violently rocking it from side to side until uprooting it and carrying it off into the night.

When the police visited the accused man at home, they indeed found the statue, a bit battered and bruised after its nocturnal ordeal.

The man explained that the statue had begged him to be taken home by him, and so, after an agreement was reached between the two, he duly did what the statue had asked.

Town hall officials estimate that to repair the statue and put it back on a stronger plinth will cost between 8-9,000 Euros

(News: Calahonda, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)